I am getting ready to build my friends traction bars on his 2005 cummins and am trying to decide if I should build the frame brackets to weld on or to just bolt on? Welding seems it would be the best but he was told for some reason you should not weld on the frame.... who knows!!! haha any info or what others have done would be great!

 

i dried the bolt on method for about a day. kept breaking them off on hard acceleration. welded them and all has been good for several months. i def vote to weld them on good.

 

Id say both. Ive had great luck with the bolt on method on the traction bars that we build here we use 9/16 wheel studs sucked through the frame. And every truck we have done so far has worked great. But you could definetely run a small bead of weld on either side to the frame for added measure

 

Welding works, Only problem with welding on treated steel is that your messing with the tensel strength of the steel where your welding. What ends up happening is that your makeing that one section of frame harder than the rest of the frame. Depending on how it gets welded will determine how brittle it will get. Therefore makeing your frame weaker at that particular point.

I would use stronger bolts and make the bracket larger so you can displace the stress from the axle twisting. What you would be doing is makeing a larger footprint, Exactly like airing down your tires when you go offroading. Larger foot print equals less pressure on the given point. Just my 2 cents.

Heres a chart where it describes bolt strength. Hope this helps your project.
http://www.boltdepot.com/fastener-in...ade-Chart.aspx